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Tag: RandomConnections

Sprucing up the Joint

Posted on May 26, 2014June 28, 2014 By Tom No Comments on Sprucing up the Joint
Internet, Miscellaneous

Every now and then you need to toss a new coat of paint on the place.  It’s no different with blogs.  They can get stale after awhile and need a bit of updating.  I figured that a ten-year anniversary was as good a time as any to change things up here. I’ve switched over to … Read More “Sprucing up the Joint” »

Ten Years of Random Connections

Posted on May 1, 2014May 16, 2014 By Tom No Comments on Ten Years of Random Connections
Internet, Miscellaneous

RandomConnections10Years

It hardly seems possible. This month marks ten years that I’ve been blogging at RandomConnections.com. The new website was announced on May 6, 2004 on a post on my previous website as follows:

I have a new website….

www.RandomConnections.com will be online shortly. The new site will be the host for my web log (which will be replicated here, as it always has) but I wanted something without my name plastered all over the place. I’ll move my workshop information to the new site, and leave all my personal stuff here – resume, personal interests, etc., etc. The only personal item on the new site will be the blog.

With the new site in place, I’ll be able to create blog entries for specific categories, probably one for each of my alter egos that I use on various bulletin boards. I’m also going to post our travelog and vacation gallery there.

I love the Internet! Instead of boring just one small set of humans with your vacation pictures, you can annoy the entire planet!

The first post on the actual site was on May 14, and went something like this…

The new website is now active (Duh, obviously). This site features a much more interactive weblog than my old site, while keeping things lean and clean. The other site turn [sic] into self-indulgent blathering, was over-designed, and cumbersome. I make no guarantees about this site, but at least the blathering will be categorized.

I also don’t intend to plaster my name over everything on this site. Certain portions will be kept more professional, and will focus on Education Technology and Web Design.

Yes, both of those posts are still online, as evidenced by the links above.   I haven’t fulfilled the promises in those early posts, but I had no idea I’d still be doing this ten years later, or what those ten years would have brought.

Read More “Ten Years of Random Connections” »

New Themes and Updates

Posted on February 26, 2014May 16, 2014 By Tom 1 Comment on New Themes and Updates
Miscellaneous

I’ve decided it’s time to throw a fresh coat of paint on this place. I’ve had the same theme on this website for several years, and I’ve been looking at some new ones. Over the next several days, if you visit the site rather than read it in an RSS reader or Flipboard or something, … Read More “New Themes and Updates” »

Blog Migration Complete

Posted on May 21, 2012 By Tom 3 Comments on Blog Migration Complete
Miscellaneous

It’s done. I now have more control over my online destiny. Today I migrated my domain name, randomconnections.com, to a host that gives me more flexibility and management – Godaddy, of all things.

First, the saga of the blog…

My old web hosting company was Accuwebhosting. It was an absolute pain in the posterior, as for as hosting was concerned. I was severely restricted as to what I could do with databases, and I could only allow uploads to one subdirectory. The first version of this blog was a home-grown ASP application. The blog kept crashing, and the host provider said it was my recursive ASP scripts. Yeah, right.

So, I switched over to WordPress. It was actually cleaner and much easier to use, but my blog still crashed and my hosts still complained. They wanted me to delete some of my content to make the site run more efficiently. Yeah, right.

WordPress kept upgrading their products. When version 2.5 came along I wanted to upgrade so that I could take advantage of some of the security features. My host informed me that I would have to upgrade my platform, which would mean deleting my current database and reconstructing everything from scratch. Yeah, right.

Read More “Blog Migration Complete” »

Header Images

Posted on January 26, 2012 By Tom 1 Comment on Header Images
Photography

I’m still playing around with this new admin interface for WordPress, and so far I like it.  I’ve found a few things missing from the old site, though.  Any non-Flickr image from one of my old galleries seems to be gone.  I think I could retrieve them, if need be, but this includes all images … Read More “Header Images” »

Blog Rebirth

Posted on January 26, 2012 By Tom 4 Comments on Blog Rebirth
Miscellaneous

The deed is done.  Not since I switched from a home-built ASP-coded blog to WordPress has RandomConnections undergone as many radical changes.  None-the-less, here you are…the New and Improved™ RandomConnections!

I finally got completely fed up with my old hosting company, AccuWeb Hosting.  The service was locked down so tight that I couldn’t use even common features on WordPress.  I had to do work-arounds to get things posted, and that was a pain.  Yet, even though they had everything locked down so tightly as to what and where you could post things, they somehow couldn’t keep viruses off of their servers.

I knew I was on an older version of WordPress that had some vulnerabilities and limitations.  However, when I asked my hosting company about migrating to a newer version of PHP so that I could upgrade, they told me I would have to change my service plan and would most likely lose most of my content.  I’ve got nearly 10 years of blogging here, and didn’t want to lose any of it, so that wasn’t an option.

Read More “Blog Rebirth” »

Blog Existentialism

Posted on January 23, 2012 By Tom
Miscellaneous

Dear Readers:

I’m having MAJOR problems with the blog and with the hosting company, Accuweb Hosting. The latest is an apparent virus attack on the blog. I have the Akismet plugin which is supposed to block spam comments. However, something keeps disabling that plugin. Therefore, until further notice all commenting on posts has been disabled. I’m hoping to get that fixed soon because I enjoy the feedback from these posts.

Read More “Blog Existentialism” »

RandomConnections Calendar 2012

Posted on December 31, 2011 By Tom 1 Comment on RandomConnections Calendar 2012
Photography

Looking Glass Redynamix

Each year I do a calendar from some of my photos for my family. I use Qoop to create my photos because (A) they do a pretty good job and (B) they are a bit cheaper than some of the alternatives. What they lack, though, is a good space for text, so the photos have no descriptions. Therefore, I’ve started putting the descriptions here each year.


Cover – Looking Glass Falls

Looking Glass Redynamix

This is a photo of Looking Glass Falls in Pisgah National Forest north of Brevard, North Carolina. Normally, there are tons of people here, and it’s hard to get a shot. We were there on a spring morning in the middle of the week, so it wasn’t very crowded.

The photo was taken with a longer exposure time to give the falls that silky look, then processed in Photoshop with the ReDynamix plug-in to bring out the details.

Read More “RandomConnections Calendar 2012” »

Blog Update

Posted on October 30, 2011 By Tom No Comments on Blog Update
Family, Miscellaneous

Things may be a bit sparse of the next few weeks as far as posting is concerned. We are dealing with some serious issues on both sides of the family, and I may not have time to write as much as usual. Not that there’s been a lack of things about which to write. I … Read More “Blog Update” »

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